


How to Win a Human's Heart

by reginliefvalkyrie



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-05-01 00:46:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 9,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5185784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reginliefvalkyrie/pseuds/reginliefvalkyrie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toothless is in love with Hiccup and the other dragons try to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published on Fanfiction.net

Toothless crouched low to the ground. He was depressed.

Stormfly looked down at him curiously. "What's the matter with you?"

"It's my human." He met her gaze. "I hate it when he goes places I can't follow."

Even though Hiccup had only been gone for half an hour to the forge, Toothless still missed him. He usually sat outside the building, but there was so many people today, there wasn't a spot for Toothless. Everybody in town seemed to want their weapons looked at at the same time.

So, Toothless had wondered to the training academy. Where else was he to go?

Hookfang rolled his eyes. "Seriously? You're moppy because your human is away for more than five seconds?" He carried for his rider, Snotlout, but spending every waking second with him would be too much.

"It's not just that." Toothless growled. "It's all those females too."

"What females?" Barf and Belch exchanged glances. He couldn't be talking about their female, Ruffnut, she was too busy getting into trouble to do anything else.

"They flock around Hiccup like sheep. It's only getting worse too." Toothless shook his head. "I don't like it. He's my human, they should go find their own."

Hookfang cocked his head. "Are we talking about female dragons or female humans or female sheep? Because I'm getting a little confused."

"Humans!" Toothless and Stormfly snapped at the same time.

"Even I knew that one." Belch smirked the best a dragon could.

"You liar." Barf head butted his second head. "Because if I didn't know, you didn't know."

"I so knew!"

"Anyway!" Stormfly spoke loudly to prevent an argument. "What exactly are you so jealous for? It's not like they're stealing your life mate."

"I don't really know." Toothless sighed. "I just know I get really angry when I see them hanging around him or when they talk to him or when they touch him." His ears bent back. He really hated it when they touched him.

"Oh, oh." Meatlug hopped up and down. "I know what's wrong."

All dragon heads turned to her.

"Toothless is in love!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Love?" Toothless' eyes grew huge.

"That's what humans call it or as we call it 'life mate'." Meatlug smiled showing all her teeth.

"That's impossible." Barf lowered his head to Meatlug's level. "Humans aren't night furies."

Choosing to ignore him, Meatlug continued. "Fishlegs tells me stories all the time about a handsome prince saving a beautiful princess and they live happily ever after."

"Who's the princess?" Belch asked.

"It's gotta be Hiccup." Hookfang nodded. "He's the weaker one."

"And what's that suppose to me?!" Stormfly flared out her spikes. "Huh, Hookfang?!"

"You're weaker, it's a fact."

"You want to try me?"

Toothless shot a small plasma blast at the ground between the two. "Knock it off! We don't need you two fighting over something stupid and getting the humans to come running."

Stormfly glared at Hookfang moving closer to Toothless. He was the only boy with any kind of intelligent.

"Now." Toothless turned his attention back to Meatlug. "What exactly do you mean I'm in love?"

"Well, according to the musings of my human, there's possessiveness, jealousy, they're always on your mind, and."

"No, wait!" Barf cut in. "Toothless would be the princess. Hiccup had to save him so the princess has to be Toothless."

"We're not talking about that any more!" Stormfly shouted.

"We're not?" Barf looked to Belch. "Since when?"

There were times where it was better to ignore the zippleback. This, this was one of them.

"Okay, let's say I'm in love my human." Toothless dug at the ground. "What should I do?"

"You need to win him over." Meatlug explained. "Shower him in gifts."

"Oh, like fish." Belch nodded. "Yeah, you can gather a bunch of fish and drop them on his head."

"I don't know, Belch." Barf shook his head. "I'd wana eat'em. Plus, I don't think humans can eat as much as us."

"Only Meatlug eats as much as you." Stormfly grumbled.

"In any case." Toothless decided to move this along. "How would I get that much fish?" He couldn't fly out and gather fish (He'd need Hiccup for that), he couldn't steal them from the store house (Hiccup wouldn't like that), and he couldn't stash some from his meals (Hiccup would figure it out).

This was a problem.

"I don't think fish would be a good idea." Hookfang curled up deciding to take a nap.

"Why?"

"Snoutlout likes sheep meat. Clearly people don't want fish."

Storrmfly cocked her head. "Wow, despite Hookfang's crazy way of putting it, he's right."

Toothless turned to her. "True, Hiccup likes fish, but he wouldn't like that much fish. I should think of something else."

"Chicken?" Stormfly offered. She loved chicken.

Meatlug grunted. "Humans aren't like dragons. It has to be something a human would want."

"Snotlout loves food and swords."

"Ruffnut and Tuffnut like sharp pointy things they can use to hit each other with."

Toothless wrinkled his nose. Hiccup was different than all the other humans on Berk. He wouldn't want food or weapons.

A showerable gift for Hiccup?

"There you are, bud." Hiccup walked through the front gate. "Sorry about taking so long." He scratched under Toothless' chin. "Ready to go flying?"

Once the two were gone, Stormfly and Hookfang turned to Meatlug. "When did you become a human love expert?"

Meatlug made a strange grumbling sound. "My human's been reading me his poetry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, yes, I know Fishlegs is a poet in the books. That's the joke.


	3. Chapter 3

Landing gracefully, like always...90% of the time, Hiccup lept off Toothless' back. "I'm never going to get tired of that."

            Toothless made a happy growl sound. Flying was something he could give Hiccup that humans couldn't. Take that human females! And sheep females...stupid Hookfang putting that idea into his head.

            Hiccup stretched his lanky arms high until his shoulders cracked. "It's getting late, Bud. We should head home before Dad starts to wonder where we are." He scratched behind the dragon's ear.

            "Hiccup!" A girl's voice called. A girl's voice Toothless only knew too well.

            Astrid came running over. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you."

            "Yeah?" He continued to scratch behind Toothless' ear.

            "First you hide out in the forge all day and then you go out flying for hours."

            "Okay, I get it, be more available." He sighed heavily. "I'm here now. What do you want?"

            "I have some new training ideas that will make everyone happy." She crossed her arms proudly. "Even the twins."

            "Oh, yeah? I've got to hear this."

            Before Astrid could speak, Toothless roughly nudged Hiccup with his nose almost knocking him over.

            "What is it, Bud?" Hiccup wrapped an arm around his neck.

            The black dragon made a low rumbling noise nudging Hiccup again. What he wanted was to get out of here. Go home where there wasn't any competition and Hiccup would only pay attention to him.

            "You wanna go home, boy?"

            Toothless swung his whole body around with Hiccup still attached to his neck. Home was exactly where they were going.

            "But, Hiccup?!" Astrid shouted as if they'd gone a mile instead of just a few steps.

            "Sorry, Astrid." Toothless helped Hiccup regain his footing. "But Toothless seems really intent on going home. We can talk about your new ideas as we walk."

            As soon as Hiccup's back was turned, Toothless flicked his tail stopping Astrid in her tracks. Toothless was not going to let her come with. She, out of everyone, was the biggest competition.

            Astrid stood in confusion. "I'll, ah, just tell you about it later."

            "Are you sure?" Hiccup spun around and started walking backwards.

            "Yeah, it can wait, I guess."

            Hiccup shrugged turning to walk forward again. "After shouting at me and acting like she had something really important to say, she changes her mind." He patted Toothless' head. "Girls sure are weird, huh, Bud?"

            Toothless smiled showing his teeth. He liked Astrid and all, but only one could have Hiccup and he was damn sure he was going to win.


	4. Chapter 4

Toothless shifted boredly. Hiccup on his back. His rider was mentally exhausted. "Okay." He spoke to the other dragon riders. "How about we try this again?"

Hiccup didn't think this exercise was that hard, but apparently it was.

It was a simple trust exercise. The dragon was supposed to dive bomb down and at the last second, before they hit the water, the rider was supposed to pull up. 

Trusting their dragons was easy. Hiccup wanted to make sure the trust was returned. Toothless trusted Hiccup with his life and vice versa, so this was pointless to him. They'd already played the dive bombing game. It was fun!

Instead, Toothless wanted to put his 'Shower Hiccup' plan into action. He looked to Stormfly. "Do you think you guys can take your riders in one direction while I take Hiccup in the other?"

"I can." Hookfang snorted smoke. "Flying where I want to is what I do best."

Stormfly rolled her eyes. She wasn't a big fan of 'disobeying' Astrid, but she'd do it for Toothless, but on one condition. "You better tell us how it goes."

"Fine." Toothless was going to need their help again if this didn't work.

Almost in sink, Toothless leapt forward taking to the air while the other dragons twisted around and took off in the opposite direction.

"Hiccup!" Astrid tried to redirect Stormfly, but she'd have none of that. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." Hiccup called over his shoulder. "Just trust your dragons!"

"Maybe they don't like the exercise?" Ruffnut looked to her brother.

"Yeah, who'd want to pull up?" Tuffnut smirked at her. "We should crash into the water. That'd be way more fun."

Fishlegs shook his head. "If you did that, your dragon wouldn't be able to spit fire."

"Oh, right." Tuffnut thought this over. "Then we'll just jump off our dragon's back at the last second."

"That's a great idea!" Ruffnut agreed.

A part of Hiccup was glad and worried that he could no longer hear their conversation. "Toothless." He tried to change the tail fin to turn them around, but the dragon slapped him with his ear. "All right, you seem determined, so I'll trust you."

oooooooo

Hiccup was glad when they finally landed. He recognized it as the opposite side of the Berk Island.

Hopping down, Hiccup scratched under Toothless' chin. "All right, Bud, what possessed you to take me here?" It's not like they'd never been here before.

Toothless pushed Hiccup with his nose so that he was forced to fall back onto the grass. He made a low growl noise which he hoped told Hiccup to stay put. He needed to gather his showerable gift.

"What's wrong, Bud?" Hiccup tried to stand up only to have Toothless push him down again.

"Toothless." He tried again only to get the same results.

The dragon growled more forcefully.

"Okay." Hiccup held his hands up in defeat. "I'll stay here for whatever reason. Just, don't stay away too long."

Toothless nodded his understanding before running off.

ooooo

"Now." Toothless looked around. "Where did I see that meadow?" He remembered it was on this side of the island and that there had been dragon nip beside it.

Everything looked so different on the ground than in the sky.

Choosing what he hopped was the right direction, Toothless was off.

It didn't take long for Toothless to see Terrible Terrors lounging in a field of grass. Dragon nip. The over powering smell of flowers invading Toothless' nose.

This was the place.

Toothless studied all the flowers. He had no idea which would be good or which Hiccup would like best. He decided to simply take some. He didn't want to keep Hiccup waiting longer than he had to.

He grabbed a mouthful of flowers (with his teeth retracted of course) and pulled them from the ground taking both roots and dirt clumps. Yes, these would be just fine.

Satisfied with his gift, Toothless hurried back.

oooo

Seeing Toothless trotting over with a large cluster of flowers in his mouth caused Hiccup to lean back. "Um, Toothless? What're you doing?"

The dragon dropped the flowers a top Hiccup's head and sat back on his hunches, waiting.

"O...kay." Hiccup brushed the few flowers that landed on his head off. "Ah, thanks, I think."

Toothless made a happy noise nosing the flowers closer.

"I'd ask you to explain, but obviously you can't."

The dragon picked a few of the flowers back up and dropped them on Hiccup's lap.

"All right, Bud, I get it. For some reason you're giving me flowers and I like them very much, thank you." Hiccup started to gather the scattered flowers. There was no way Toothless would let him leave without them. It was easier to just go along with it.

The bigger question was: How was he going to explain this to his father?

Toothless didn't understand why Hiccup seemed so confused. He'd seen that male Viking give flowers to a female Viking a few days ago. She seemed very happy to get them. She even did that human thing where she pressed her face against his. 'Kissing' was what humans called it.

He crouched low to the ground watching Hiccup. This wasn't going as he'd planned. Toothless thought he'd give Hiccup all the flowers he could carry and his human would be so happy. 

Why didn't Hiccup seem that excited?

Maybe he'd only like them if Astrid was the giver. He use to talk about her all the time. It was annoying really. 

He was better than that tiny, easily squished, human. Perhaps he could ask Stormfly to keep her human busy for a while. Keep her away from Hiccup.

"Toothless, sometimes I don't get you." Hiccup stood with the large bouquet of flowers dirt still flaking off. "But I'm sure it all makes sense to you."

Toothless wagged his tail leaning in to nuzzle against his rider.

Hiccup chuckled stroking the large reptile’s cheek. "Come on, Bud, let's go home."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there's a really bad rooster joke and I'm sorry about it, but I couldn't resist. XD

"I told you the flowers were a dumb idea." Barf said smugly. "Should have gone with fish."

Stormfly head butted them. "You said no such thing."

"Did to!" He defended. "In my head."

"Your head's empty." Belch snorted. "You can't think something if your head's empty."

"My head works just fine. It works way better than yours."

"Does not."

"It so does."

Before Belch could continue, Toothless let lose a deep roar. "We are not starting that childish argument again. We don't need you two spitting gas and fire everywhere."

The two heads glared at each other then looked away in angry huffs.

Toothless rolled his eyes. Hiccup thought dealing with the human riders was bad. He should be thankful he didn't have to deal with the dragons too. He looked to the deadly natter. "Stormfly, I'm going to need your help with something."

"Sure, anything I can do to help."

"Can you please do your best to keep your rider away from Hiccup?" Toothless sighed. "I'm having a hard enough time, I don't need Astrid popping in." He hadn't heard Hiccup go on and on about how amazing she was lately, but that didn't mean he wasn't still interested in her.

"She's a cock blocker." Hookfang said matter of factly.

The other dragons stared at him.

"It's what Snotlout calls Hiccup when he thinks he's getting in the way of him talking to Astrid. It's the same thing, isn't it?"

Belch lowered his head to Hookfang's level. "So, she's blocking roosters?"

"Beats me. Snotlout grumbles about it all the time."

Toothless wasn't sure they were talking about roosters, but what else could they be referring to? "I'm not sure what roosters have to do with anything. So, I'm just going to ignore that."

"Good idea." Stormfly agree. She'd never seen or heard of humans blocking roosters. Maybe it was a big thing when dragons and humans were still enemies.

The black dragon turned to Meatlug. "What do I do next? I need a new plan. I can't get him gifts." His tail lazily flapped.

"Hmm." Meatlug cocked her head. "Maybe take him somewhere special, somewhere meaningful."

"Somewhere meaningful?" Hookfang eyed her. "Like the Great Hall?"

"No, I think Meatlug means somewhere that's special to Hiccup." Stormfly explained.

"And Toothless." Meatlug added. "It needs to be a place both Hiccup and Toothless will like. I'd say 'romantic' but nobody seems to know what that is."

Toothless thought this over carefully. He knew just the place.

But it would have to wait until tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

Toothless stared at Hiccup's sleeping form. It was almost dawn and he needed to get his human up. He use to jump up and down on the roof, but Stoick had made it perfectly clear he wasn't allowed to do that anymore. He could be no fun sometimes.

None the less, Toothless found a more entertaining, but less affective, way to wake Hiccup up.

The dragon nudged the human with his nose repeatedly.

"Toothless." Hiccup tried to shove him away. "I'm trying to sleep."

'Duh'. Toothless rolled his eyes.

The dragon was relentless until Hiccup finally gave in.

"All right, all right." He threw the blanket off. "What'dya want?"

Toothless pushed his saddle towards the bed.

"You want to go flying, right now?"

He licked his human's cheek.

"Okay, you win, like always." Hiccup swung himself off the bed. "Let me just get my vest."

Finally getting his human out of bed and on his back, Toothless took off putting his plan into action.

"Ah, Bud, you're flying in land. The ocean's the other way." Hiccup pointed behind them. "You know that."

Toothless growled almost in a mocking tone. The ocean wasn't important right now. Oh, no, he had a much better place in mind.

"Alright, you're the dragon. You're in charge."

With his unbeatable speed, it didn't take Toothless very long to arrive at the cove near Raven Point. He dived down, skidded his toes a top the water surface, and landed on the soft dirt.

"Toothless, why are you stopping?" Hiccup had yet to dismount.

For this to work Hiccup needed to get down, so Toothless shook himself like a dog shaking off water.

"Okay, I get the message." He unhooked himself from the saddle and hopped down. "What's gotten into you lately? You've been acting weird."

Toothless looked to the sky. He was running out of time. Acting quickly, he shoved Hiccup with his nose towards the spot he believed would be perfect to see the   
light through and above the trees.

"Seriously, Bud, you're starting to worry me."

The dragon plopped down in the perfect spot. He turned to Hiccup, made a strange rumbling noise in his throat, and motioned with his head that the human should sit next to him.

Hiccup stared at his best friend.

Toothless repeated the motion.

Very confused, Hiccup dropped to the ground unconsciously wrapping an arm around Toothless' neck. "I'd ask what we're doing here, but I know you can't an." He stopped talking as he saw the sun rising.

The rays seeped through tree branches and birds started singing.

He looked to Hiccup. Was Hiccup enjoying this? Did he like it? Toothless sure did. Laying here with his human...his love, watching the sun rise in the very spot their   
bond was made. If this wasn't a special and meaningful spot, Toothless didn't know what was.

"Huh." Hiccup spoke quietly as if being any louder would ruin the moment. "This is...really something else, Bud." His hand slowly started to scratch the black scales. "I've seen plenty of sun rises and sun sets in my life, but this."

'Is amazing?' Toothless thought.

"Thanks, Bud, I'm glad you dragged me out here."

Toothless' tail flicked. This was definitely a win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if you could really see the sun rise from the cove...I'm ganna pretend you can.


	7. Chapter 7

Meatlug nodded her head listening to Toothless' recount of that morning. "That was a good idea, but from what I've heard Fishlegs say, sunsets are better."

Toothless thought this over. "Well, I can always find a spot to watch the sunset too."

"You can't do that." Hookfang protested.

"Why not?"

"Because doing the same thing is boring."

"It's not the same thing." Stormfly counter argued. "Sunrise. Sunset. Totally different."

"It's close enough." Hookfang defended. "It's close enough to be boringly the same. I wouldn't like it."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not trying to romance you, isn't it?" Toothless snapped.

"I could do better." The monstrous nightmare grumbled.

Barf and Belch exchanged looks. "I thought Toothless was in love with Hiccup." One asked the other.

"That's what I thought too."

"Then why is Hookfang complaining about Toothless' boring romancing?"

"Ya got me."

They both turned to Toothless. "How fast do you change your mind about life mates?" Belch asked.

"How many life mates do you have?" Barf asked right after.

"Why would you dump Hiccup for Hookfang?"

"You can do so much better than Hookfang."

"I agree with Barf."

Toothless couldn't decide if he was mad, insulted, or confused.

Stormfly decided to be mad for him. "Are you two insane?" Her spikes bristled. "Or are you just pretending to be this stupid?"

The zippleback thought the question over. "What were the choices again?"

In annoyance, Stormfly shot spikes at them purposely missing. "You have two heads! How can you be that dumb?"

"Well, you see." Barf was about to explain.

"No, no, no." Toothless cut in. "No."

"But, she asked."

"No!" The night fury roared.

The zippleback grumbled under their breaths.

Heaving a sigh heavier than any dragon has yet to sigh, Toothless turned to Meatlug. "What should I do next?"

Meatlug looked up from the bugs she'd been studying. "We tried gift giving."

"That worked out so well." Hookfang rolled his eyes.

"And we tried taking him to a special place."

"Which he totally did wrong."

Stormfly head butted Hookfang. "Do you have to commentate after everything?"

"Yes, I have to."

Meatlug ignored them. "Next, you should share an interest of his. Show him that you like some of the same things."

"Like flying?" Barf and Belch tried to get back into the conversation.

"Hiccup likes more than just flying." Toothless swung his tail around and flicked the tail fin. "He invents new things all the time. He invented this after all."

"And what are you going to invent?" Hookfang snorted. "A new foot?"

"Don't be Barf and Belch stupid." Stormfly scolded.

"Yeah, don't be us stupid."

"Let us be us stupid."

Toothless stared at the two headed dragon for a moment. "Moving on." He turned back to Hookfang. "I was just making a point. Clearly I can't make him anything."

The red dragon smiled the best he could. "He's interested in Astrid. You could take an interest in her too."

"No!" Both Stormfly and Toothless snapped.

"Why not? It'd be easy. All you have to do is follow Astrid around. That'd make Hiccup really happy. Happier than you could."

Toothless narrowed his yellow eyes at him. "We've gone at it twice now and both times I've come out the victor. Do you really want to make it three?"

They could see Hookfang weighing his options. Unlike his rider, Toothless wasn't someone to antagonize. The usually calm and collected dragon could do a 180 when Hiccup was involved.

Hookfang broke the contact submitting. "It was only a joke."

Meatlug cleared her throat to get their attention. "This interest should be something you can do together. Fishlegs and I both like food and we have fun eating together. We bond over eating."

Barf looked down at her. "You feel this 'love' for your rider too?"

"No, I'm merely giving an example." Meatlug wasn't going to waste her time trying to explain to them the different kinds of love.

"Oh, so it's like how our riders and us like to go yak tipping." Belch nodded to himself proud that he understood.

Toothless considered this. Hiccup wasn't that into food and he most definitely didn't tip yaks over. He'd have to put some thought into this.

Stormfly leaned on one foot then the other. She hated herself for being curious, but she had to ask. "What else can Toothless do?"

The gronkil was sniffing the ground looking for something to eat. She'd made herself hungry. "Well, from Fishlegs' musings, he thinks one of the best ways to get a   
guy's attention is to show your vulnerable side. Show them you need them. A guy likes to feel needed."

"But." Toothless cocked his head. "I'm a guy."

"Hiccup already knows he needs you. It's a little obvious. You need to show him that it goes both ways." Meatlug explained.

"Vulnerable side?" Toothless was one of the top scariest and deadliest dragons. What was there for him to be afraid of?

Hiccup had already seen him around eels. He wasn't a big fan of lightning, but going after that skrill kind of fixed that. He liked water. He liked the dark. He liked to   
watch spiders and examine their webs.

He could always pretend to be scared of something. Something Hiccup had to 'save' him from.

But 'what' was the question.

Maybe Toothless would skip that one.

"Hey, Meatlug." Stormfly preened her wing. "Who's Fishlegs getting all lovey dovey over?" It's a term she'd picked up from listening to humans.

"I don't know. Some girl called Tantrum."

"That's a stupid name." Hookfang butted in.

"Says the dragon of Snoutlout." Stormfly shook her head.

"Hey!" Hookfang took offense on his rider's behalf.

Toothless watched them continue to argue over names with Barf and Belch trying to get involved. He was tired of breaking them up so he thought he'd let this one go.

"What in the name of Odin are you idiots shouting over now?" A deep booming voice cut in.

The black dragon looked to the training ground gate. "Thornado." He watched the thunderdrum approach. "It's not like you to do anything that involves us."

"And I would have liked to keep it that way." Young dragons could be very annoying and this moment was exactly his point.

Not that Toothless didn't like Thornado, he liked him as much as he liked Stoic, but that didn't mean he wanted to hang out with the older dragon. "Don't take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here?"

"This business with the human boy." Thornado stared at Toothless. "You're putting a lot of affect into something that won't last long."


	8. Chapter 8

Stormfly's jaw dropped in disbelief. "How could you say that?"

"That was really mean." Meatlug added.

"Call me what you will." Thornado's serious eyes never left Toothless'. "Pursue this if you want, but keep this in the back of your mind: Someday that boy will die.   
You will outlive him by a couple hundred years. Are you prepared, willing, to bare that heartache?"

"But that won't happen for a long time." Stormfly cut in. "Why worry about that now?"

"A human life, compared to a dragon's, is nothing but a fleeting moment. Blink, and it will pass you by."

If a dragon could go pale, Toothless would have. Thornado had a point. With luck, Hiccup could live to be 100. That still wasn't a long time. Toothless himself wasn't very old. He was still young for a dragon.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it." Hookfang yawned.

"Yeah?" Toothless turned to him.

"Hiccup will probably have ditched you way before then for a human female. Probably Astrid."

"Hookfang!" Stormyfly snapped head butting him.

"What?" The red dragon looked confused.

"What do you mean 'what'? That was totally uncalled for!"

"And insensitive." Meatlug added.

Hookfang shrugged the best a dragon could.

Toothless' ears flattened. He couldn’t decide which was worse: A dead Hiccup that loved him or an alive Hiccup with a human female. He didn't like either choice very much.

"What are you so moppy for?" Barf gave him a curious look.

"Yeah, neither's happened yet." Belch nodded.

"Unless we're in the future."

"That sounds like fun. I want to be in the future too."

"But we're already in the future. How can you want to be where you already are?"

Toothless wasn't quite sure how to respond and he was too depressed to think of something, so he ignored it. "I think I'm going to take a walk." He got to his feet.

"Do you want one of us to go with you?" Stormyfly asked.

"No, I'll be fine by myself."

The other dragons watched Toothless slowly walk out of the academy.

"Nice going, guys!" Stormfly turned on them.

"I was just giving him a fair warning." Thornado curled up to take a nap. "Whatever happens next is up to him."


	9. Chapter 9

Toothless pawed at the dirt around Hiccup's house. He didn't want to admit it, but Thornado, and even Hookfang, had a point. Eventually, Hiccup would die, hopefully of old age, and Toothless would be left behind.

Sure the other dragons would be there, Odin willing, but it wouldn't be the same without Hiccup.

Hiccup made life fun. He was always doing something adventurous that normally ended with Toothless having to get him out of trouble.

That was fine by him. He could show Hiccup, and he supposed the others, how amazing he was.

And Hiccup would get so excited and praise him. No one could do what Toothless could. He was irreplaceable.

Just like Hiccup.

"Hey, Bud." Hiccup's voice caused Toothless to look up. "What's wrong? You look like someone just denied you fish."

The dragon 'croo'ed softly rubbing his face against Hiccup when he was close enough.

"Easy, Tooth, you're ganna knock me over again." Hiccup hugged him around the neck. "Do you miss me? Is that it?"

Toothless 'croo'ed again. His human didn't know the half of it.

"I miss you too, but I'm almost done. After tomorrow, it should be done." Hiccup patted Toothless' neck. "Come on, let's take a couple laps around Berk."

Toothless shot up. You didn't have to ask him twice!

"Hiccup!" Stoic shouted stomping towards them. "Where're you going?"

"Just for a quick fly around Berk."

"Don't fly too far. A storms coming. I don't want you two getting caught in it."

"Relax, Dad, we'll be fine." Hiccup climbed onto Toothless' back. "I've got Toothless. Bad weather means nothing to him."

"Just be careful."

"We're always careful." Hiccup patted the dragon's shoulder. "Let's go, Bud."

The black dragon took off at a run, threw out his wings, and took to the sky.


	10. Chapter 10

The dark clouds rolled in faster than Hiccup had anticipated and it brought rain and harsh winds. 

It didn't take long for Hiccup to get drenched. "I really should invent something that protects people from the rain, especially when we fly." He pushed wet hair from his face. "Come on, Toothless, we need to head back."

Toothless nodded, smoothly turning his sleek form around.

The lightning split the sky. It cracked right by them missing only by a foot.

"Okay." Hiccup hunkered down closer to Toothless. "I think we need to fly faster now."

Toothless couldn't agree more. He flapped his mighty wings hard before bringing them in and heading down.

Pure instincts caused the night furry to barrel roll out of the way just in time for lightning to wiz by.

"Nice one, Bud."

Toothless spared a quick backwards glance. He knew he was the fastest, but nature had the nasty habit of always one upping you.

He also knew lightning liked metal, (They'd all learned that the hard way) and though his tail was made of more metal and larger than Hiccup's foot, he still worried his poor human could get hit.

Toothless had thick skin. Hiccup did not.

He twisted just in time to dodge a second lightning bolt.

Confidence started to rise in Toothless. They were almost back to solid ground. They were going to make it!

And then Thor decided to remind them of his superiority.

Light flashed. The crackling bolt headed right for Toothless' tail. He twisted again, but it was in the wrong direction. He'd unintentionally made it easier for the   
lightning.

In an instant, the fabric of the tail fin burst into flames.

"Toothless!" Hiccup wrapped his arms around the dragon's neck bracing for impact.

The landing was less than graceful in the sand. Hiccup immediately unhooked himself and hopped down. "Toothless!" He took the creature's massive head in his hands. "Are you hurt?"

Toothless swung his tail around to show his man made one was charred.

"Ah, man." Hiccup examined it. "I'm sorry, Bud."

The thunder crackling reminded them of the situation.

"Come on, if we're where I think we are, there should be some kind of cave nearby."

********

Safe from the rain, Hiccup examined the damage more thouraly. "I wish I could make this out of something besides metal." He removed the clasps taking what was left of the tail fin off.

Toothless 'croo'ed rubbing his head against Hiccup's arm. If Hiccup had a metal foot, then he would have a metal tail. Well, somewhat metal.

"Looks like we're walking back to the village." Hiccup sat down on the cave floor resting his back against Toothless. "Not a big crisis." He sighed. "But I'm sure Dad   
will have a lecture waiting for me when I get back." Hiccup puffed out his chest and deepend his voice. "Hiccup, I told you ta be careful. Ya never listen. Ya think you're indestructible because you have a dragon, but you're not."

Toothless laughed the best a dragon could. That sounded like Thornado.

Hiccup shivered a little rubbing his upper arms. "There's nothing in here to start a fire with and using your plasma blast on the ground we're sitting on would be too hot for me."

Toothless growled softly rubbing his face against Hiccup. His poor human wasn't going to get sick, was he?

"Don't worry about me, Bud." Hiccup patted his side. "With the heat that radiates off you, I'll be fine."

Lightning flashed illuminating the cave opening.

Hiccup absentmindedly stroked Toothless' scales. "Good thing you're not afraid of lightning any more. Of course, after the skrill, who would be?"

Toothless growled disapprovingly. He hated that dragon. It made him look like a weakling. Countering all of his attacks. Toothless had the last laugh though. He   
wasn't frozen in a block of ice.

Night Furry: 1  
Skrill: 0

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to go after another skrill either. I have you though and if another, or the same skrill, showed up we'd win. We'd win every time."

Toothless nodded in agreement.

"I have to admit, Bud, you being scared of lightning was kind of funny."

Toothless' ears flattened. How was that funny?

"The unholy off spring of lightning and death scared of lightning."

The dragon made a low growling noise in his throat.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I'll stop bringing it up." Hiccup scratched under Toothless' chin. "Though this storm's even making me a little nervous."

Toothless 'croo'ed softly wrapping his wing the best he could around Hiccup.

"You're comforting me?" Hiccup laughed a little. "It feels like you're always doing that."

What? No! It was supposed to be the other way around. Hiccup was supposed to comfort him. He was already messing it up, but he just couldn't stop himself. Hiccup   
was so small and Toothless was so much physically bigger than him. It was impossible not to wrap him in his wings or curl a tail around him.

Hiccup yawned a pretty big yawn for one so small. "I wonder how late it is." He yawned again curling closer to Toothless.

The black dragon shifted so Hiccup could use his front leg for a pillow.

"Bud, sometimes I think I should just use you as a bed. You're a lot more comfortable." He rested his head where dragon leg met dragon body. 

They sat in silence listening to the falling ran and crackling thunder.

"You know." Hiccup spoke up. "I don't think I ever thanked you."

Toothless cocked his head.

"If you think about it, I pretty much ruined your life. I mean, you can't fly without me. You're stuck on Berk all because of me."

Toothless stared at his human. What was Hiccup talking about? He'd had his chance to leave Berk when Hiccup made a new, improved tail for him during Snoggeltog and he'd refused it. He wanted to stay on Berk. This was the first place he felt like he could call 'home'. Plus, this was where his Hiccup lived.

"And despite what I did to you, you take care of me. You're always protecting me. I mean, you're letting me use you as a pillow and blanket." Hiccup patted his scaly   
foot. "If it hadn't been for you, I'd still be a friendless loser. Seriously, before you came into my life, I was 'Hiccup the Useless' and 'Hiccup the screw up'. Nobody thought I could do anything. Constantly I was told I needed to stop being myself if I wanted to accomplish anything." Toothless nuzzled the top of Hiccup's head getting a pat on the nose. "And now I have you. It's thanks to you that the tribe sees my value. So, thank you, Bud. I couldn't ask for a better friend."

Friend?

Toothless couldn't suppress a sad growl from escaping. 

"I wish there was something I could do for you." He paused. "I wish I could find more night furies for you."

Toothless snorted. What was with his human? He didn't need other night furies. He had Hiccup and that's all he wanted, needed. He nuzzled Hiccup again.

"Did, did you just snort disapprovingly at me?"

The dragon looked to the cave ceiling as if he hadn't heard him.

Hiccup laughed gazing all the way up at Toothless. "Oh, Bud, don't move." He quickly sat up, took his sketch book from his bag, and laid back down. "This is a great   
angle."

Toothless watched him draw from the corner of his eye.

And then, it came to him.

Drawing! 

That's an interest he and Hiccup shared. Drawing was what they'd originally bonded over. It was perfect.

Now if only he could figure out what his vulnerable side was.

"Alright." Hiccup looked his work over from different angles. "It looks just like you...and all the other pictures I have of you." He flipped through his book. "That's all I   
have in my book. Pictures of you." He closed his sketch book and hugged it to his chest. "Nothing wrong with that though." He made himself more comfortable. "We'll   
head back to the village when the weather let's up. Until then, you'll keep watch while I take a short nap, right?"

Toothless swung his tail around so Hiccup was completely surrounded by black dragon. He always kept watch over Hiccup and when he himself slept, the slightest unfamiliar noise would alert him.

"Thanks Bud." Hiccup closed his eyes. "With you beside me, I feel like I can do anything."

'Me too.' Toothless thought. 'Me too'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably over done, but I like it.


	11. Chapter 11

After walking back to Berk (enjoying the beautiful scenery together and Hiccup pointing out a rainbow) and getting a long boring lecture from Stoic. Toothless had to give Hiccup credit for being spot on about the beginning. They were finally able to rejoin the other riders.

Immediately, Hiccup had to settle an argument between the twins which eventually involved Snotlout. Astrid tried to help, but she had only made things worse and now all four were shouting with Hiccup, and a little bit of Fishlegs, trying to break it up.

The dragons watched in amusement.

"Heh." Stormfly stared to groom herself. "And they're supposed to be the smarter species."

Normally, Toothless would roar or something and everyone would clam up, but not this time. No, he needed some advice.

Turning to Meatlug, Toothless asked. "I've got an idea for the interest we share, but being vulnerable in front of him isn't working. What vulnerability could I have that I'd need Hiccup to save me from? I'm like four times his size. I take care of him.

Meatlug thought this over carefully. "I suppose that works too. Given his small size."

"He's travel size." Toothless cut in.

"Hiccup would naturally rely more on you. So, if you go from that angle."

"What does it matter?" He snapped. "Who cares who's the strongest or the smartest or." Toothless paused. "Well, I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, but my point remains. None of that matters because when Hiccup and I are together, we're unstoppable. Whatever he lacks, I make up for and what I lack, he takes care of. It doesn't matter who's better because we have each other."

Meatlug stared at him. "Wow." She said after a moment. "That was."

"Stupid." Hookfang cut in. "And I might gag up my breakfast."

"Eww." Stormfly cringed. "Hookfang!"

Barf and Belch shared a look before nodding. "It's like us. I supply the gas and he's got the fire."

"Though without me, you'd be useless."

"No, you're useless. I'm the brains. You're just the ugly one."

"No, you're the ugly one."

Stormfly leaned down towards Toothless. "Is it just me, or for a second, did they actually say something intelligent?"

"For a split second, yes." Was his response before he snapped. "You're both equally ugly! Now, can you stop fighting and listen to me?!"

Immediately, they stopped.

"Thank you." Toothless checked on the humans. They too had stopped arguing and Astrid was up front talking. (It sounded like hand to claw combat or something).   
The humans didn't seem to be paying any attention to the dragons. "Look, I've asked a lot from you guys, and I really appreciate it, I just need your help one more time."

"Only one more time?" Stormfly cocked her head.

"If this doesn't work, I'm done. If Hiccup doesn't understand my intentions after this, he never will. The barrier between dragon and human will clearly be   
unbreakable."

No dragon said anything for a moment. They could hear their riders talking in the background.

"This thing you need our help with." Barf spoke up. "It's not gana be hard, is it? Cause Belch isn't very smart. Hard tasks confuse him."

Belch nodded in agreement before realization kicked in. "Hey!" He snapped smacking the other head with his own.

"It's not hard." Toothless assured them. "I just need look outs and Meatlug." He turned to her. "I'm going to need aerial support from you. You're going to have to help direct me."

Meatlug frowned. "But, Fishlegs, I sleep beside him every night."

"Please."

She hesitated. "Okay, for the sake of love."

"Alright, here's the plan."

The other dragons crowded around Toothless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come on, at the end of most shows, there's that sappy little conclusion, life lesson. It wouldn't be a HTTYD fic without one.


	12. Chapter 12

"A little more to the left." Meatlug instructed hovering above the village.

Toothless, with a tree branch in his mouth, dragged the tip to the left.

"That's perfect." Meatlug nodded giving everything another look.

Hookfang yawned letting his tongue lull out. "Are you two done yet?" He and the other dragons had stayed out all night keeping watch for any signs of Viking movement.

"Just finished." Toothless tossed the tree branch to the side and admired his work. Oh, yes, Hiccup would love this drawing.

"Perfect timing." Stormfly hurried over with Barf and Belch. 

The villagers were starting to stir.

"I have to hurry home." Meatlug landed "Before Fishlegs notices I'm gone."

"We should all head home." Stormfly nodded. "For some reason nobody likes it when we're unsupervised."

Toothless looked over to Barf and Belch. One was spitting out gas in made up patterns while the other ignited it. "I wonder why?" He asked sarcastically. 

Hookfang took notice. "Spit out more gas. We can make the fire bigger."

"NO!" The three other dragons shouted as one.

"We don't need to get banished from the island again." Stormfly said.

"That never happened." Barf retorted as Belch nodded in agreement.

Toothless stared at them for a moment. Was stupidity contagious?

*********

Stoic stood at the front door. "What in the name of Odin?" He took in the sight of the drawing in the middle of his town and the villagers trying not to step on it.

He looked to Toothless. "I suppose this is your doing."

The black dragon puffed out his chest. He was very proud of his drawing.

Stoic stared at the creature before shouting very loudly. "Hiccup!" He stormed back into the house. "Hiccup!"

Toothless cocked his head. He didn't see why Stoic was so upset.

After some shouting that Toothless wasn't really paying attention to, Hiccup came outside still pretty tired. "Toothless, what'd you do now?"

At that moment, an unsuspecting villager stepped on a part of the drawing.

Toothless growled causing the villager to jump back. They were going to mess it up before Hiccup got to see all of it.

"Toothless." Hiccup sighed. "You can't growl at the villagers like that. We've been over this."

The dragon made a soft whining noise pointing to his master piece.

"Yes, I see your drawing, but it can't stay there. People are going to have to walk on it. They can't dance around as they try to carry loads or drag carts."

Toothless made the same whining noise gently pushing Hiccup towards the drawing.

"It's very nice, but as I said."

Toothless jumped to stand next to his work. He motioned to it with his head, met Hiccup's gaze, and motioned again.

It was clear Toothless wanted Hiccup to actually see it instead of just glance at it.

"Alright, alright." Hiccup surrendered. "Let's see what you did."

Walking carefully around the outline with Toothless following, Hiccup looked the drawing over. "Huh, that's funny." He crossed his arms. "It kind of looks like...me."

It was crood and childlike, but it definitely had a Hiccup look to it.

Toothless licked Hiccup's check. That's exactly what he was going for. Hiccup had drawn Toothless so many times. It was time to return the favor.

"Thanks, Bud." He scratched the dragon's head. "You must have put a lot of effort into it."

Toothless licked his check again.

"No wonder you wanted to keep it safe."

It was obvious that Toothless valued his portrait, but it really couldn't stay.

"I have an idea." He patted the dragon's head before racing back inside.

Moments later, he came back with his sketch book. "I'll copy it for you. Then we'll always have it."

Toothless watched intently as Hiccup went to work.

"And done." He showed his book to Toothless. "What'd ya think, Bud? Does it have your approval?"

The night fury nodded. It was perfect.

"Hey, Hiccup." Snotlout approached them with Hookfang. "That ugly drawing looks like you."

Toothless growled baring his teeth. His Hiccup picture wasn't ugly. It looked just like Hiccup.

"Snotlout." Hiccup said in his 'you're really annoying and frustrating, but there's nothing I can do about it' voice.

"What? It's true. Just look at it."

Toothless looked to Hookfang. "Do you mind?"

"Yeah, sure." Hookfang took Snotlout in his mouth head first and walked away.

Hiccup sighed shaking his head. Those two had the weirdest relationship. He patted Toothless' head. "Don't pay him any mind, Bud. His idea of art is being able to   
burp the alphabet."

Toothless cocked his head. That was weird. Hookfang could do that too. The dragon alphabet anyway.

"Thanks, Toothless. I don't know what possessed you to do it, but it's really nice."

He wagged his tail. Another win.

"Come on, Bud." Hiccup patted his shoulder. "I've got something I want to show you."


	13. Chapter 13

"Toothless, I made this for you." Hiccup held up a large piece of metal formed into a curved shape.

The dragon studied it. What was this?

"It's a chest plate." Hiccup explained. "It's only a proto-type. I'm sure there are kinks I'll need to work out and technically it's not finished yet."

Toothless smelled the chest plate.

"We don't know what Alvin or Dagur will do next and I wanted you to be ready for any kind of attack." Hiccup blushed a little. "I can't lose you, Bud."

The night fury wagged his tail. His human had made him another gift. His very smart human.

"Let's try it on. I need to see if it fits." Hiccup placed the metal below Toothless' chest. "It should be easy enough to attach to the sides of your saddle." 

Using clasps, buckles, and leather, Hiccup was able to snuggly attach the chest plate against Toothless' chest.

"Okay." Hiccup used two fingers to check the gap between dragon and metal. "Loose enough to not be uncomfortable, but tight enough to not wiggle around." He stood back to admire his work. "What do you think of it, Bud?"

The black dragon examined himself the best he could. He liked it simply because Hiccup made it for him and it was designed to protect. It showed Hiccup's concern and love.

'No, friendship love'. Toothless reminded himself. 'Loving friendship'.

It didn't matter which was the correct term. It all meant the same thing. The same disappointing thing.

"Come on, Bud." Hiccup patted his head. "Let's see how well you can fly."

"Hiccup!" Astrid flagged him down before the duo could take off. "Are you guys going flying?"

"Yeah, I want to test the breastplate I made for Toothless out."

"Cool, Stormfly and I can help. If it can stand up to a deadly natter's spikes, it can stand up to anything."

Hiccup had to agree. "Alright, sure."

Toothless looked to Stormfly. "Aren't you going to stop her?"

Stormfly cocked her head. "But I want to see if the shiny metal can stand up to my spikes too."

As much as Toothless liked Stormfly, she could be a little annoying when she wanted to be. "Did you forget the agreement already, Barf?"

"Hey! I take serious offence to that!"

"Then don't act like either of them."

"Well, if you're going to be a jerk, I'm not going to distract Astrid."

"What if I get you a chicken?"

"Two chickens for the Belch comment."

"Fine, but I said Barf."

"Same thing." Stormfly head butted Astrid enough to knock her over before sprinting off.

"What the?" The female human clamored to her feet. "Stormfly!"

Hiccup shook his head. "It would seem she didn't like that idea."

"No kidding. What's gotten into our dragons lately?"

"Heck if I know. I'm a dragon trainer, not a dragon whisperer." Hiccup climbed onto Toothless' back. "You might want to go get her before she destroys something."

"Ugh!" Astrid took off at a run. "Stormfly! Get back here!"

Toothless nodded to himself. Worth two chickens. He'd worry about obtaining said chickens later.


	14. Chapter 14

Hiccup jumped off Toothless' back. "It doesn't seem to be interfering with any of your flexibility and your flight is still smooth as far as I can tell. What do you think? Do you feel comfortable in it?"

Toothless shook himself like a wet dog. The metal chest plate didn't move. He looked himself over again then nodded.

“I’m glad you like it.” Hiccup glanced around. Toothless had brought him back to the cove. He patting Toothless' shoulder. "Bud, you’re acting strange, even for you. You keep flying back to the cove. I didn't think you liked the cove."

Toothless lowered his ears. He wasn't acting strange and he loved the cove. The cove was where their bond was made.

"Of course, who am I to call someone 'strange'? Look in the mirror, right?" Hiccup laughed. "Though, if you were human, I'd almost think you were..." His laughter started to fade.

The dragon stared at him curiously.

"Only in my dreams though, right? I mean, it's physically impossible for you to love me. I'm the only." Hiccup paused. "I'm the only one that's screwed up enough to love across species. To love a dragon that couldn't possible return my feelings." He sighed heavily. "It's times like this I'm glad you understand what I'm saying without understanding what I mean because if you did, you'd be long gone. Able to fly or not."

Toothless wasn't sure he was hearing right. Hiccup, his Hiccup, had just said 'love'. 

He made a soft 'croo'ing sound rubbing his face against Hiccup's shoulder. If only he could speak! If only he could jump up and shout that he too was a screw up and loved across species! That the feeling was mutual and they could be screw ups together!

If only he could show Hiccup with no room for confusion. No room for doubts. If only he could....wait! There was something!

That human kissing thing! He could face bump Hiccup. That would clear up everything.

Toothless rose to his feet and moved to stand in front of Hiccup.

The human cocked an eyebrow. "You ready to go home?"

There was a moment of hesitation. It was silly how fast Toothless' heart was beating.

"Bud?"

It was now or never.

Toothless leaned forward barley touching his snout to Hiccup's face.

Startled, confused, and so many other things, Hiccup leaned back. "Toothless, what're you doing? What was that for?"

Toothless' ears dipped back. Had he done it wrong? Was he that bad? He'd just have to try it again and again and again if he must.

With too much force, Toothless pressed his snout against Hiccup's face knocking the smaller human backwards.

"Ugh, Toothless." Hiccup pushed the dragon head away. "What in the name of Thor are you doing? If you keep doing that, you're going to break my nose."

Toothless stared intently down at him. Was Hiccup not happy with him?

“I get why you head butt, but why do you keep hitting me in the face with your face?

Hiccup wasn't sure where this idea was coming from, maybe it was just wishful thinking on his part, but he had to ask. "Toothless are you...are you trying to...kiss   
me?"

The dragon's ears perked up. Hiccup did understand! He licked and nuzzled Hiccup repeatedly. His human understood.

Hiccup took Toothless' face in both hands. "Is that why you’ve been acting weird? The flowers, the sun rise, the drawing, all of it?"

Toothless nodded his tail swinging back and forth.

"I still can't believe it. I always knew you were far more intelligent than other dragons and almost all Vikings. I just." Toothless pushed his snout against Hiccup's   
face, gently this time. "Okay, I get it." He laughed pulling away. "I'll stop talking. I was starting to ramble anyways."

Hiccup smiled and Toothless smiled back.

So Hiccup may or may not die years before Toothless. So Hiccup may or may not take a human female as a wife. None of that really mattered. Toothless had Hiccup   
now and the adventures, the memories they share would be a comfort in whatever future came to be.

But all of that wasn't until tomorrow and ever after. Now, today, was all that mattered.

"Dragon Tag!" Someone shouted as a hand smacked Hiccup in the back of the head. The hit would have knocked him over if Toothless hadn't been there to support   
him.

Hiccup looked up in time to see the twins speeding off.

Not long after, the other dragon riders whizzed by.

"Come on, Hiccup!" Astrid shouted. "You're it!"

"Oh, it's on. You really want to go against a night furry in a game of agility and flexibility?" Hiccup turned to Toothless. "Ready to remind them why you don't mess   
with Hictooth?"

Toothless hoped his face showed what he was thinking. 'Did you really just say that?'

Hiccup cringed. "Yeah, I know. It wasn't good the first time I said it." He climbed onto his dragon's back. "Let's go, Bud!"


End file.
